The Quesnel River Archers filled their quivers with a weekend of fun at the Barlow Creek Hall.
Saturday, the hall was filled with junior archers participating in the Junior Olympic Program and Sunday saw young and not-so-young archers return for more fun.
Sunday’s activities had more than 25 archers taking aim at different types of targets, including sets of playing cards to build the best hand with the fewest arrows, paper turkey targets with a magic spot on the back and the arrow closest to the magic spot won, candle flames and a ping pong ball suspended in an air stream.
One of the lucky winners in the card game was Dage McLennan.
“I got 11 points in the card game,” McLennan said as he struggled to hang on to his prized ham tucked under his arm.
McLennan, 10, took up archery with a recurved bow about a month ago because he was bored with the other sports he had taken up.
When asked if he liked archery, McLennan, a Grade 5 student at Kersley elementary smiled.
“I like it,” he said in a soft-spoken voice.
“I like trying to get bull’s eyes.”
Saturday’s Junior Olympic Program was also a fun-filled time for the 36 young participants, with a focus on applying their newly learned skills to win prizes.
The JOP, initiated by the B.C. Archery Federation, is designed to provide youth with instruction in archery during the indoor season.
“Beginners take aim at 80-cm targets and as they become more accomplished the size of the target gets smaller, with the smallest being a 40-cm target,” president of the Quesnel River Archers club Wayne Schaefer said.
Key components of the instruction, in addition to the archery skills, include the importance of form, consistency, dedication and practice, Schaefer explained,
“These are things that you can apply to any sport,” he said.
The JOP indoor program runs until the end of March and Schaefer is hopeful an outdoor program will begin in the spring.
For information about the Quesnel River Archers visit quesnelriverarchers.webs.com.
